Thailand’s Transport Ministry Plans to Build Two Cruise Liner Ports

[Jacob Maslow]

Thailand’s Transport Ministry is planning to open two cruise liner ports with one in Krabi and the other in Surat Thani. A yacht show is also being scheduled

Thailand’s Transport Ministry unveiled their plans to build two cruise liner ports. A port will be built in Krabi and Surat Thani. The plans come as no surprise as Thailand is trying to boost their national revenue as much as possible this year.

A growing decline in the country’s revenue has seen Thailand invest heavily in the transport industry and attempt to bolster tourism even further. Arkhom Termpittayapaisith, the Deputy Transport Minister, stated that cruise liners in the country are gaining in popularity. Adding two new ports will allow high-spending tourists to add to the country’s revenue while helping beach communities maintain profitability.

Estimates provided by the secretary of Tourism and Sports indicates that cruise liners are responsible for 100,000 tourists visiting Thailand annually. Many of the vessels currently dock at cargo ports due to a lack of capacity for cruise liners.

The country hopes to compete with Singapore’s ports.

Currently, there are ports in Phuket, Bangkok and Laem Chabang. The ministry has yet to conclude their study on the feasibility of ports being built in Krabi and Surat Thani. There have been no announcements on when port construction will begin or when a final decision on the construction of the ports will be announced.

Plans have also been revealed that will improve tourist safety in Surat Thani and Krabi. These plans will help with the addition of the two cruise liner ports once they are approved.

The Transport Ministry also announced a yacht show in the country. Hoping to spur tourism further, the show will see manufacturers from across the world displaying new and super yachts for sale to potential buyers.

Prime Minister, Prayut Chan-o-cha, strongly believes that the yacht show will promote Thailand as a prime location for cruising.

The show is expected to take place in Pattaya or Phuket.

-- 2015-03-04

[pomchop]

Perhaps if thailand is serious about trying to attract passenger cruise ships they should clean out the absurd taxi mafia that RULES the laem chabang port. I've been there several times on cruise ships ...it is about a three mile walk to the front gate and a very industrial port...so thousands of passengers get off wanting to go to bangkok or pattaya only to be met with a taxi mafia that proudly posts signs with prices of $200 one way to bangkok or $100 to pattaya etc....the mafia totally controls the port as to transport allowed to enter or depart and some mr BIG is raking in some serious baht with every cruise ship. Unfortunately quite a few passengers just said the hell with it and stayed on the ship meaning no money spent in bkk or pattaya.

So perhaps the good general might want to take a look at exactly WHO the mr Big is that is helping to give laem chabang a very bad reputation as to a port of call.

Cruise ships are very quickly expanding all over SE asia with several ships now based in singapore and china...Thailand COULD become a major cruise center but won't happen as long as the mafia is allowed to rule the ports.

[Bsd]

Next question, where in Surat Thani? Currently the ships park way off Nathon in Koh Samui and use tenders to bring the passengers to shore. A terminal there would require a very large dredging project to be done to allow ships anywhere near the existing piers.

Or do they mean Surat Thani town where there is nothing for the tourists to do?

[wabothai]

Now here is a sensible idea with overseeable costs, iso of building railsystems no one can afford and hardly anyone needs.

A cruiseship brings an average of 1000 passengers per mooring.

I hope ...... TAT knows.

[pomchop]

Now here is a sensible idea with overseeable costs, iso of building railsystems no one can afford and hardly anyone needs.

A cruiseship brings an average of 1000 passengers per mooring.

I hope ...... TAT knows.

Actually most of the cruise ships that would pass through Thailand are closer to 2000 passengers per ship...plus a crew of almost 1000. It is a TON of money that goes into the local economy assuming the people are not so fed up with taxi mafia BS that they just stay on board.

Two of the very worst ports in the area for big time Taxi mafia are laem Chabang and Saigon's port.....how hard would it be for the government to put a stop to this nonsense with a few arrests?....naturally there are obviously a few very very well connected people who pocket a huge amount of money from every ship as I highly doubt the taxi driver is keeping the bulk of the baht.

Really very sad that some people cruise all the way to Thailand and then get so frustrated by the taxi mafia that they just say screw it ..not worth the hassles.... meaning all the LITTLE people who might have sold a shirt or a meal or whatever get nothing...but MR BIG does very very very well.

Edited March 4, 2015 by pomchop

[pomchop]

Next question, where in Surat Thani? Currently the ships park way off Nathon in Koh Samui and use tenders to bring the passengers to shore. A terminal there would require a very large dredging project to be done to allow ships anywhere near the existing piers.

Or do they mean Surat Thani town where there is nothing for the tourists to do?

Actually cruise visits to ko samui are not so bad...there is a nice tender port there that is convenient....and fortunately the tender pier is easy walking distance into Nathon town so if the taxi mafia gets too greedy the passengers just walk around the town and have many other options. I doubt that a real cruise terminal there would make any sense revenue wise as not that many ships are likely to include ko samui on their itineraries.

[Boatfreak]

Another yacht show? How many do you want?

http://oceanmarinapattayaboatshow.com/

http://www.phuketboatshow.com/

just get easy registration for yachts, let foreign yachts (and crew) for 6 months in the country without trouble and collect the money flowing in. It is that easy.

Edited March 4, 2015 by Boatfreak

[ttthailand]

As others have said, the Taxis are helping to kill the tourist industry. I guess the government is very weak as they can't control one group of thieves.